Fellow researchers, as a scholar, historian and professor emeritus at Austin College, I have taught and written about Texas history for more than four decades. In doing this work, I've relied extensively on primary source materials to help illustrate and bring the rich history of our state alive. Content within UNT Libraries' Portal to Texas History does just that! The Portal has brought Texas' history to my fingertips, further augmenting my class presentations, with key images that inspire students and encourage lively discussion. Simply put, the Portal to Texas History is transforming how we research, write and teach Texas history!
Something so worthwhile cannot exist without significant investments from the university and our philanthropic community. For this reason, I personally support the Portal to Texas History, because I love the great state of Texas and its rich, colorful history. As 2018 draws to a close, and in this season of giving, I ask you to join me in helping UNT Libraries meet their NEH Challenge goal. Please join me in making a gift to support the Portal to Texas History!

Description:
Photograph of a man in a light blue, yellow, and navy cavalry uniform, holding a rifle and sitting on a honey-colored horse. His uniform is comprised of a black helmet with a long yellow plume, a navy jacket, light blue trousers with a yellow stripe down the leg, knee-high boots, and a saber attached to his hip. The horse is harnessed and saddled, with a small quilted blanket under the saddle. They are standing in a large, dry, dirt space, with three small, one-story houses in the far background. Behind the houses, there is a large, rocky cliff-range.

Description:
Photograph of a row of 13 nearly identical houses in Fort Davis. Each house is brick and has a white front with a short flight of stairs from the ground to a porch surrounded by white pillars. There appear to be other buildings behind the initial row. In the foreground, the ground is bare and there are several mounds of dirt. In the background, there are hills covered in desert brush.

Description:
This photograph shows the Harvard Radio Astronomy Station. To the left, there is a white building that appears to be a pre-fabricated structure; an old-fashioned pickup truck is parked next to the building. To the right, there is a large satellite propped up on what appears to be wooden supports. Two men are standing next to the satellite. In the foreground, there is some scrub and a wire fence enclosing the station area. Behind the station, there are telephone poles and rolling hills with scattered brush. A handwritten note on the back of the photograph reads "Big Bend Sentinel, Marfa, Texas. 4 col x 4 flush mounted 175 cropped."

Description:
This photograph has a handwritten label "Ft. Davis Tex" written across the top and shows several buildings in front of a rocky ridge. On the far left, there is a large white building and there at least five people standing on the porch and nearby. To the right, there is a dark building with something in front of it (possibly some barrels covered in a white cloth) and another white building back behind. To the right of the dark building, there are three lighter colored buildings that look nearly identical; they seem to be made of brick and have white roofs with white pillars across the fronts of their porches. The foreground is an open area covered in desert scrub.

Description:
This photograph that shows part of Fort Davis in the winter. In the foreground, there are several large rocks and behind them, to the left, there is a row of nearly identical buildings with porches that appear to be part of Officer's Row. In front of the buildings, there are trees and a road at the edge of a fenced-in field. There is some sort of structure in the middle of the field. In the background, there are other buildings and the slope of a mountain. Everything is covered in snow. Printed text on the back of the photograph reads "We have come a long way with your support! Happy Holidays From The board of directors of the friends of Fort Davis National Historic Site."

Description:
This photograph shows a large building with that appears to be made of brick although the side facing the front of the photograph is painted white. The side of the building to the right has several doorways and there are windows set in the white side of the building as well as a wooden gate in the middle of part of the wall and some of the brick is showing through the white paint. In the background, there is another building to the far right of the photograph that appears to be enclosed by a wooden fence. In the foreground, the ground appears to be bare. A handwritten note on the back of the photograph reads: "'Batcave Courthouse' in Fort Davis was the first courthouse (1880) built in Presidio County. The front, at right, looks north - The left end was the district courtroom. The red door was the entry way fro wagons into the patio."

Description:
Photograph of three two-story buildings, presumably houses, in front of a rocky cliff. Two of the buildings have porches and appear to be built of brick. In the foreground, there is an unpaved road and a fence with a gate separating the road from the buildings. The area appears to be mostly dirt with some desert scrub. There is a mountain in the distance behind the farthest house. A handwritten note on the photograph says "scene near Ft Davis."

Description:
In this photograph, there are two covered vehicles filled with people and hitched to horses; one appears to be a small buggy and the other is a larger wagon. The wagons are standing in a flat area, covered in desert brush in front of the slopes of several rocky ridges. Handwritten notes on the back of the photograph read "Down Musquiz Canyon" and "Horse and buggie days. Early way of sporting."

Description:
This photograph shows a series of buildings that appear to be storefronts. The buildings are built of bricks and one has the words 'feed - water - stable' written on the side. In the foreground, there is a man with a large, old-fashioned bicycle and two dogs nearby. There are also 9 other people ranging along the front of the stores and two horses hitched to a wagon. There appear to be other buildings farther away. In the background there is a rocky cliff rising behind the buildings.

Description:
This photograph shows four two-story buildings in front of the rocky cliff of a mountain. In the foreground, there is an area covered with scrub and what looks like an unpaved road and telephone poles in front of the buildings. The buildings to the far left and right look a bit weathered and old, but could still be in use and the one near the center has a pickup truck parked outside. The next building to the right appears to be abandoned and is sagging and falling apart; it looks as though it is made of wood although the others seem to be brick.

Description:
Photograph of six wax dolls from Teda W. Neill's collection in a wooden shadowbox on a wooden table. The dolls are unique in size and appearance and include an elderly couple, a woman holding a baby, and a man with a jug.

Description:
Photograph of two dolls from Teda W. Neill's collection in a shadowbox with an ornate frame. On the left side is a Greiner doll in a long black dress, and on the right a smaller M. & S. Superior doll.

Description:
Photograph of a J. D. Kestner life-size baby doll from Teda W. Neill's doll collection. The doll is wearing a white gown and sitting in a wooden baby carriage which, according to the handwritten note on the back of the photo, is an antique from the 1860's.

Description:
Photograph of a small doll in a blue dress sitting on a wooden table. A handwritten note on the back of the photo states that it is a German bisque doll and was purchased for Teda W. Neill by her husband.

Description:
Photograph of Teda W. Neill standing next to and looking at a doll displayed in an ornate frame. A handwritten note on the back of the photo identifies the doll as the first in her collection of dolls.

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